San Frantastic

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Checking in with a report from San Francisco. We saw Tuesday's game (Colon, Mets lost) and came back with the Pail for Wednesday's deGrom/Campbell win.

This park, although not a lot different than a lot of the new parks - very CF-like in fact -- gains big points for being so well located.

Our seats for Tuesday's game were in the top row behind home plate. There really is a magnificent view of the bay beyond the fence that you don't get when seated lower. Almost exactly like Citifield, the winds behind the park up there can be bone-chilling anytime of year. We wore sweatshirts, coats & hats. Like everything in SF, the beers were expensive ($11.50 for a pint of Lagunitas, and some other micros were $18!!). We got nachos in an overturned Giants helmet (eh) and chatted with very friendly rival Giants fans. What a view:



The game was sort of eh so I returned Wednesday with just the Pail while Wifey Bucket went shopping. We splurged for closer seats this time -- also behind home plate but field level, just below press row. Guy who sat next to me said his seats were given to him by Bill Miller who was umping at first base that day. Miller and the other umpires apparently were drinking at his bar. Speaking of umpires, the 2 guys who dress like umps and mimic the home plate umpire from the font row were there also in our section, our bartender seat-mate friend knew those guys too apparently, I guess you would have seen them on TV, they were kind of funny. They get away with it because they donate to the umpire charity, or some shit, he was saying.

He was in a group of 4 that also included a Met fan who like us was visiting from Brooklyn. She was one of those geeky, old-school-from-the-70s Mets fans with pins in the hat, a Seaver jersey worn over a deGrom t-shirt etc etc. Our seats offered premium view of deGrom who was really blowing guys away. Giants fans by my take are aware of their good fortune but are also lucky to have an organization that seemed confident in itself and on the same side of their fans in the way the Mets org is definitely not. The fans were proud, for instance, that they are the first and still only team with a female PA announcer. The promotion on Tuesday night was for Bruce Lee's 75th birthday -- they limited the giveaway (a Bruce Lee Bobblehead!) to fans in certain sections only but entertained us all with kung-fu related scoreboard graphics, etc. all night. It was something I couldn't imagine the Mets doing.

I guess my other baseball takeaway was new respect for Hunter Pence. Obviously the catch-DP thing on Thursday was huge, but what really impressed me was his imagination. Against deGrom he was down 0-2 and on his way to a bad beatdown at the dish as were so many of his teammates, when he threw his bat at one and doubled down the RF line. I think it was the Giants' first hit. Later in the game you could see he tried to adjust and absolutely jumped at the first pitch for a HR that was foul by only a few inches and into the seats in a nanosecond. Both times, a real creator up there.

Here's a bad cellphone image of DeGromination (left the camera in the hotel that afternoon)



We had such a good time talking baseball with our seat neighbors that day that we made a point to stop by his bar the next day for a happy hour drink, only to find that he wasn't working and they don't let kids into joints that don't sell food in SF -- too bad. BIZARRELY, the day after that we were walking into the mall near our hotel and encounter Hat-Pin Met Fan Lady from Brooklyn walking out. And who do we see again at the airport, on the same flight home? Hat-Pin Met Fan Lady. Whacky.

We did lots of non-baseball stuff there too, much recommended by you swell guys in the travel thread. It was a beautiful city, great fans, good park, great weather -- lots of beers and tacos, lots of hiking and sightseeing. Definitely see a game there sometime!

[Edgy MD]

Great report and photos. Imagination sometimes seems almost illegal in the batter's box. Don't try something new or you'll screw up your swing for a month. Only the Cuban guys are different, because (1) they are born fully formed and (2) the batting coaches are afraid of them.

Did the Pail hang onto his Nieuwenhuis shirt?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Pence is a unique cat. Pail retained the Kirkshirt, but went Duda/MrMet for these games. We red-eyed home sat night and he slept thru the entire game yesterday.

[nymr83]

they don't let kids into joints that don't sell food in SF

or NY actually, at least if they are following the rules.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Got me a hankering for some garlic fries! Love that place and the
city. We should go back, sister-in-law lives close to San Fran so don't
even need a hotel. Only drawback is my sister-in-law lives close to
San Fran.

[TransMonk]

Great pics...glad you had a good time. I'd love to visit Pac-Bell (or whatever it's called now).